Aladdin (1992)
Category:FilmsCategory: /Media | directed by = Ron Clements; John Musker | written by = Ron Clements; John Musker; Ted Elliott; Terry Rossio | produced by = Ron Clements; Donald W. Ernst; John Musker; Amy Pell | music by = Alan Menken | cinematography = | edited by = H. Lee Peterson | distributed by = Walt Disney Productions | release date(s) = November 25th, 1992 | mpaa rating = | running time = 90 min. | country = | language = English | budget = $28,000,000 | gross revenue = $217,042,825 (US) $504,050,219 (Worldwide) | preceded by = | followed by = The Return of Jafar (1994) }} Aladdin is an American animated feature film of the fantasy, adventure and musical genres. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and is the thirty-first movie in Disney's animated classics series. It is the fourth film of the Disney Renaissance era. It was written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker with additional writing by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. The story is based on the Middle East folk tale One Thousand and One Nights in Arabian Nights. Voice talents in the movie include Scott Weinger in the titular role of Aladdin, Robin Williams as the Genie, Linda Larkin as Princess Jasmine, Jonathan Freeman as Jafar and Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of the parrot, Iago. Plot A merchant from the kingdom of Agrabah sets up his shop and attempts to cajole potential buyers into purchasing his wares. Failing to impress with his traditional fare, he pulls out a magic lamp and goes on to explain the story of how this particular item once changed the course of a young man's life. The man, like the lamp, was more than what he seemed - a "diamond in the rough". A tall stately man named Jafar and his pet parrot, Iago, traverse the desert where they meet up with a greedy little underling named Gazeem. Gazeem hands Jafar one half of a scarab pendant. When he joins it with the second half already in his possession, the item turns into twin bursts of light that fly off, pointing the way to their destination - the Cave of Wonders. The desert sands rise to form the head of a giant tiger. Its mouth is the entranceway into the cave. The cave bellows forth in a monstrous voice, declaring that only one whose "worth lies within" may enter. Gazeem enters the cave, but is immediately deemed unworthy. The cave collapses upon him, burying him in the sand. The voice echoes, "Seek me out the diamond in the rough". Aladdin is a young man who lives on the streets of Agrabah. He has no money and no home and makes a living by stealing from the market vendors with his monkey cohort Abu. The royal guards find him after he nabs a piece of bread and they give chase. Aladdin and Abu scurry all throughout the streets and rooftops of Agrabah, disrupting the other vendors. They eventually manage to elude their pursuers. The guards accidentally fall into a cart full of camel poop (which seemed to have stunk really bad), while Aladdin and Abu sit down to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. Aladdin then notices two homeless children poking through garbage looking for scraps of food. Taking pity on them, he gives them the bread he just stole and forces Abu to do the same. Meanwhile, Jasmine, the Sultan's daughter, frustrated with her life in the palace, flees to Agrabah's marketplace. There she meets street rat Aladdin and his monkey pet, Abu, and the two begin to form a friendship. After Aladdin is arrested by orders of Jafar, Jasmine orders Jafar to have him released. Jafar lies to her that Aladdin was already executed, leaving Jasmine heartbroken. Jafar, disguised as an elder, releases Aladdin and Abu from the dungeon and leads them to the Cave of Wonders, promising a reward in return for retrieving the lamp. The cave allows them to enter but instructs them to touch nothing but the lamp. Aladdin and Abu find a magic carpet. Aladdin obtains the lamp but Abu's attempt to steal a gem backfires and causes the cave to collapse. The carpet flies them back to the entrance and Aladdin delivers the lamp to Jafar, who then tries to kill him. Abu then thwarts Jafar and steals back the lamp as he, the carpet, and Aladdin fall back into the cave just as it closes. In the collapsed cave, Aladdin rubs the lamp, unexpectedly unleashing Genie, who reveals he will grant Aladdin three wishes with the exception of murder, romance, revival of the dead or additional wishes. Aladdin tricks the genie into magically freeing himself, Abu, and the carpet from the cave without actually using a wish; thereafter, Genie states that Aladdin will not receive anymore magic help unless he explicitly states "I wish". While contemplating his wishes, Genie admits he would wish for freedom, since he is a prisoner to his lamp. Aladdin promises to free Genie as his last wish. Aladdin decides to use his first wish to become a prince in order to be legally able to court Jasmine. Meanwhile, Jafar attempts to mind control the Sultan into arranging a marriage between himself and Jasmine in order to become Sultan himself. Before he is able to succeed, Aladdin appears and parades into the Sultan's palace as "Prince Ali of Ababwa". Sultan is impressed but Jasmine rejects Ali as a suitor. Despite the Genie's suggestion that Aladdin to tell the princess who he really is, Aladdin keeps up his act as a suave prince and takes Jasmine around the world on the magic carpet. Jasmine suspects that Ali is actually the man she met in the marketplace; during the trip, she tricks Aladdin into admitting it and demands the truth from him. Aladdin fabricates a story that he sometimes dresses as a commoner to escape palace life. The couple kisses as Aladdin returns her home. Afterwards, Aladdin is kidnapped and thrown into the ocean by Jafar who makes a second attempt to arrange a marriage. Genie rescues Aladdin as his second wish; Aladdin returns to the palace and exposes Jafar's plot. Jafar flees after noticing the lamp in Aladdin's possession, realizing who Aladdin is. Aladdin has second thoughts about freeing Genie, believing that without him he is "just Aladdin". Iago steals the lamp and brings it to Jafar. Jafar becomes Genie's new master, using his first two wishes to usurp the Sultan's throne and become the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Using his new powers, Jafar enslaves Jasmine and the Sultan, exposes Aladdin as a street rat, then exiles him and Abu to a frozen wasteland. Aladdin and Abu use the magic carpet to return to the palace, where Aladdin sneaks in to try and recapture the lamp. Jafar proposes using his third wish to make Jasmine his queen. Genie protests that he cannot grant that wish, but Jasmine decided to feign interest in Jafar, allowing Aladdin to try to grab the lamp. Aladdin gets caught and battles Jafar, who transforms himself into an enormous cobra and traps Aladdin. Jafar claims to be "the most powerful being on Earth", to which Aladdin argues that Genie is more powerful. Faced with this realization, Jafar uses his final wish to become a genie himself. However, he then discovers that genies are not free entities as he is sucked into a lamp of his own, dragging Iago with him. The Genie sends Jafar's lamp flying into the Cave of Wonders. Genie urges Aladdin that he should use his third wish to regain his princeship, warning Aladdin that he has never seen a woman like Jasmine, but Aladdin, realizing that he cannot keep pretending to be something he is not, decides to keep his promise and wish for Genie's freedom. Seeing Jasmine's love for Aladdin, the Sultan changes the law to allow her to marry whomever she deems worthy. The newly free Genie leaves to explore the world while Aladdin and Jasmine celebrate their engagement. Appearances * Abu * Achmed * Agrabah merchant * Aladdin * Crazy Hakim * Farouk * Gazeem * Genie of the Lamp * Iago * Jafar * Jasmine * Rajah * Razoul * Sultan of Agrabah * Asia :* Middle East :* Agrabah :* Cave of Wonders :* Crazy Hakim's Discount Fertilizer * Magic carpet * Magic lamp * Scimitar * Birds :* Parrots * Camels * Elephants * Horses * Monkeys * Sheep * Tigers * Captain of the Guard * Grand Vizier * Prince * Princess * Sultan * Ali Ababwa * Djinn * Genie * Guard * Harem * Merchant * Prince Abubu * Sultanate * Thief Cast Notes * Copyright holder: Walt Disney Company; November 25th, 1992; PA583905 * The name Jafar is likely taken from Jaffar, who was the evil vizier in the 1940 film The Thief of Bagdad, where he was played by silent film legend Conrad Veidt. * The role of Abu is likewise based on The Thief of Bagdad. In the 1940 London Film Productions classic, Indian actor Sabu played a human thief named Abu. He wasn't a monkey, but he did get turned into a dog at one point. * The beginning of the movie shows that the Agrabah merchant will eventually come into possession of the magic lamp that houses the genie. It is unclear how he comes to acquire it and how long after the events of the three films that he takes possession of it. * The movie earned itself no small bit of controversy from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee due to a bit of dialogue from the song "Arabian Nights". The theatrical version of the song from Aladdin includes the line "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face...", which the ADC felt portrayed Arabs in a negative stereotypical light. For home video releases of the film, the line was changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense..." * Robin Williams does not appear in the film's direct sequel The Return of Jafar, but does return to reprise the role of the Genie in the 1996 direct-to-video sequel Aladdin and the King of Thieves. * Aladdin is producer Amy Pell's first credited work on a film. * In One Thousand and One Nights, Aladdin's true love is named Princess Badroulbadour, not Princess Jasmine. In the original tale, Badroulbdour was fated to be married to the evil vizier of the Emperor before ultimately marrying Aladdin. In the animated series, the evil sorcerer is the counterpart to Jafar. Jafar does in fact try to make Princess Jasmine fall in love with him, but doing so violated the laws of genie magic. * In the original tales, the sorcerer that Jafar is based on was actually from the Maghreb in Northern Africa. He tried to pass himself off as the brother of Aladdin's late father Qaseem (renamed Cassim) in the animated film series). * Brad Kane provides the singing voice for Aladdin in this film. Fun Facts * Actress Linda Larkin almost lost out on working on Aladdin, even after having been signed on. Studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg did not feel that Larkin's voice was forceful enough to pull of the intonations of a regal princess. After several grueling voice sessions with directors Ron Clements and John Musker, Katzenberg decided to keep her on. Jim Hill; Aladdin Central.org; April 13th, 2000 * Actor Robin Williams, who provided the voice for the Genie, also played the role of the Agrabah merchant in the beginning of the film. * Princess Jasmine and Aladdin will go on to team up with the Greek hero Hercules to survive the machinations of Hades - Lord of the Underworld, as well as Jafar in the "Hercules and the Arabian Night" episode of Hercules the animated series. This is one of the few occasions where characters from one Disney animated feature film crosses over with those from another animated feature film. Recommendations See also External Links * * * Aladdin at Wikipedia * * Aladdin at the Disney Wiki * References ---- Category:1990s/Films Category:1992/Films Category:November, 1992/Films Category:Theatrically released films Category:Walt Disney Productions Category:Disney Animated Classics Category:1st installments Category:Silver Screen Partners, IV Category:A/Films Category:Animated films 01 Category:Based on folklore Category:Ron Clements/Director Category:John Musker/Director Category:Ron Clements/Writer Category:John Musker/Writer Category:Ted Elliott/Writer Category:Terry Rossio/Writer Category:Ron Clements/Producer Category:Donald W. Ernst/Producer Category:John Musker/Producer Category:Amy Pell/Producer Category:Alan Menken/Composer Category:H. Lee Peterson/Editor Category:Scott Weinger/Voice actor Category:Linda Larkin/Voice actor Category:Robin Williams/Voice actor Category:Gilbert Gottfried/Voice actor Category:Jonathan Freeman/Voice actor Category:Frank Welker/Voice actor Category:Brad Kane/Voice actor Category:Corey Burton/Voice actor Category:Douglas Seale/Voice actor Category:Jim Cummings/Voice actor Category:Russi Taylor/Voice actor Category:Lea Salonga/Voice actor Category:Debi Derryberry/Voice actor Category:Vera Lockwood/Voice actor